My Brother the Ocelot
by Watcher321
Summary: Eli, traveler and adventurer extraordinaire, finds a lone ocelot in the woods that is not all it seems to be.
Halloo Fanfiction community! This popped into my head a while ago and I decided to take a quick detour from my story Project MOBS for a one-shot. (Next chapter will be uploaded for that one soon!) Enjoy!

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He was not sure exactly what had brought him here. Walking will do that to a person-and Eli had been walking for quite a while. Two weeks, to be exact. He had gotten bored of his previous location-had mined practically everything within three chunks-and so found himself on the road to adventure.

Eli had passed through a thick swamp followed closely by Jungle, which he had almost set up camp in but decided to see what was ahead. That was two days ago, and now he sauntered along in a forest biome with a book in his hands and a piece of mutton in his mouth. Eli was very aware that it wasn't particularly safe to read and walk, at least not in creeper territory, but he decided the risk was worth it, considering the protagonist was literally hanging by his fingers from a cliff above a zombie-infested drop, a skeleton poised to shoot down his last hope of climbing to safety…

" _Meow!"_ Eli stopped and looked up. Was that…

" _Meow!"_ Definitely a cat, but out here? Did it wander too far from the jungle?

" _Hisss… SCREEECH!"_ Eli jumped and quickly folded the book back into his inventory bag. He took the sword from his waist and took a ready stance. He held it for about a minute before dropping the sword and rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Okay, Eli… you're officially afraid of a _cat_. Don't go off the deep end just yet, okay?" He was about to start walking again when an all-too familiar prickle started at the back of his neck.

"SSSSSSssssssssup?" Eli had about two seconds two grab his newly made shield from his back (a village blacksmith had been kind enough to update him on trends in technology) before a resounding _**boom**_ sent him flying several blocks. He groaned and rubbed his head before promptly falling unconscious.

" _Meow? Meow? MEOW."_ Eli groaned and squeezed his eyes shut tighter. Something with surprisingly painful paws was kneading his stomach heavily. He shoved the cat off and rolled over, curling into a ball.

Wait… cat? Just as he realized what was bugging him, Eli felt a painful prick right at the base of his spine.

"OW!" He shouted, sitting up and holding his back. He glared at the untamed ocelot that was pattering around him worriedly.

" _Meow. Meow. Meow."_ The sound was getting more and more annoying every time he heard it. Eli tightened the strings of his black jacket and crossed his arms at the cat.

"So it was you." He grumbled. "Chased a creeper right into me, too! Watch where you're going, 'kay?" He watched the ocelot run in circles for a while, still meowing. It was untamed and still had the characteristic spots all over its back.

" _MEOW."_ The ocelot looked at him again, and Eli frowned. "What?" The cat merely tipped its nose up, and Eli followed its gaze.

"Drat!" He hissed, getting to his feet and fishing in his bag, which had been blown three blocks from him. The sky was filled with stars, and now that he was aware of it, the entire forest seemed to prickle with foreboding. "That's what you get me into, isn't it!? Dumb cat!"

Once Eli fished out his shovel, diamond and glowing softly with enchantment, (sadly only Efficiency I,) he dug himself a nice hole and sealed it above his head with wood.

Eli placed a torch and dug himself a nice little square room, in which he put a crafting table and furnace. He started cooking beef over the warm fire and, after dusting off his jeans and green t-shirt from the work, plopped against the wall, leaning his head back to wait out the night.

" _Meow."_ Eli opened one eye a slit and saw a vaguely feline shape drag the not-quite-ready beef from the furnace. It began to eat happily.

"Wait one second, how did you get in here!?" Eli roared, snatching his food from the kitty's paws. He stuffed it back over the coals, grumbling. "Think you have the right to eat _my_ heard-earned food, do you?"

A soft hiss and a shuffle of fur on dirt made him turn his head just in time to catch a furry comet.

"OW, OWowowowowowow!" Eli shrieked a rather embarrassingly high-pitched scream as he tried to tear the feline fury from his face, but the more he pulled the worse the sharp claws tore his skin. He fell on the floor still screaming until he finally gasped out, "Okay, okay, maybe you do have the right to eat my food? Who knows? Just, please? TAKE THE BEEF!"

With that the cat left him alone and returned to the furnace, leaving Eli to nurse his bleeding cheek.

"Ow… ow… ow… stupid cat." Eli grumbled. It irked him as he walked through the woods the following morning that the ocelot was following him. Apparently it had liked the beef. Which was strange, considering all he had ever seen cats eat was fish. They were also supposed to be much, much shyer than this one acted. It bothered Eli to no end; cats ate fish and ran in fear if you moved too fast. This one ate steak and attacked you if it was unhappy. The man had never seen an ocelot behave this way, and part of it fascinated him.

"At the very least, you're good creeper repellant." He told the cat as they settled down to lunch near a small pool.

" _Meow."_ The ocelot settled down in the shade of a tree, and Eli sat down next to it, his back against the trunk. He whipped out his fishing rod and cast into the small hole; with luck a few would bite.

As they waited he absentmindedly scratched the cat's ears, to which it responded with a rumbling purr. As he moved his fingers through the soft and well-groomed fur, something snagged on his pinkie around the cat's neck.

"Huh…" Eli moved his hand and gently slipped the string collar off the cat. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed the name tag before; but how could one get such a thing on an untamed ocelot? They were slippery and fast, and only responded well when given fish.

Eli fingered the tag for a minute before he brought it up to his eyes and read the cursive-scrawled name.

 **"** ** _My Brother, the Ocelot"_**

"Kitty, you have a weird owner." The cat grumbled a response that Eli felt was affirmative. The two settled back to enjoy the summer breeze that had been blowing all day.

That night Eli settled down in a small dirt cave he had found in a hillside. It was thankfully mob-free, and he lit it heavily to keep it that way. He was about to put salmon in the furnace when the ocelot leaped up before him and curled into a cozy-looking ball.

Eli considered luring it with the fish, but the cat looked so content that he just sighed in defeat. "Fine, that's why I have bread." He mumbled, digging in his bag again. He fell asleep with the cat purring on top of the furnace.

When Eli woke up that morning sunlight was filtering through their cave entrance. He yawned and blinked sleepily, looking for the ocelot.

There was a grown man, dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans with thick brown hair lying asleep on his furnace.

Eli screamed, and that instantly brought the man to his feet.

"Hey- what's going on? Is it a creeper? I'll show it-" The stranger seemed to notice something was different, because he paused, frowned a moment, and brought his hand in front of his face.

"Finally!" The stranger exclaimed, laughing as he wiggled his fingers. Then he looked over at Eli, who had ceased screaming only because he ran out of oxygen.

"Oh… sorry." He scratched the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly.

"Herobrine?" Eli made a wild guess. This earned a laugh from his guest.

"Not quite; his identical twin. The stupid moron thought it'd be funny to play a prank on me." The man cracked his knuckles and made for the entrance. "I'm gonna turn him into a horse for that." Stopping, he turned back and grinned at Eli. "Thanks for the steak, by the way!" And the stranger was gone.

Eli was left alone, sitting still and trying to process the whole conversation.


End file.
